Sober.P Worm Accounts for 25% of all Email Traffic

[Bob Hubbard]

IT (http://it.slashdot.org/): Sober.P Worm Accounts for 25% of all Email Traffic (http://slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=220)

Sunday May 08, @03:00AM

destuxor (http://gentoobox.rh.ncsu.edu/) writes "The grave insecurity of the day is the Sober.P (http://www.datafellows.com/v-descs/sober_p.shtml) worm which is currently pushing nearly 25% of all email traffic (http://news.com.com/Sober+worm+makes+a+comeback/2100-7349_3-5698411.html?tag=cd.lede) at the moment. Unlike previous worms, Sober can disable the Windows Firewall and Symantec Antivirus. Interestingly, patched machines are not vulnerable to the exploits used by this worm. What are we going to have to do to convince "ordinary users" to visit WindowsUpdate once in a while?"

( Read More... (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/08/1429219&tid=220&tid=218)

[jfarnsworth]

I wish there was something that we could do to these people that make these viruses up. :asian:

[arnisador]

Wow, 25%...that's insane.

Think about what the costs are, to individuals and to companies (including ISPs).

[BrandiJo]

ok so what to do about it? cus iv gotten that stupid thing mailed to me atleast 1000 times the past week and its freaking annoying. My email blocks it and tells me what it is but i dont know how to stop the sender or anything else

[Andrew Green]

4.65% according to the actual article... not sure where slashdot came up with 25....

[Bob Hubbard]

I'd say the last few weeks, about 30-40% of my incoming emails have been viruses...about 100 per day. I'd normally see 2-3 a week.

[Cryozombie]

ok so what to do about it? cus iv gotten that stupid thing mailed to me atleast 1000 times the past week and its freaking annoying. My email blocks it and tells me what it is but i dont know how to stop the sender or anything else
Get a better ISP?

:P

[Andrew Green]

Windows update.

It can only attacked unpatched systems. Keeping your system up to date is the key to preventing most worms/trojans/viruses.

Now if everyone does that you'll stop getting them in your e-mail too as they turn computers into zombies to send out more, and the owner never knows...

[BrandiJo]

Get a better ISP?

:P
i think that would be a campus thing not something i can do personaly?

[Bob Hubbard]

Hand the IS dept "virus protection for dummies?" :D

[BrandiJo]

lol yeah, they need alot of those for dummy books, but is there anything i can do for my self as to how not to get 10 emails a day with that thing attached to it?

[Bob Hubbard]

Whitelist your email. Only allow those who you have previously oked to come through. All others can be rejected.

Also, you may be able to set your email to reject anything infected. Better to bounce it than process it, y'know?

[BrandiJo]

yeah i can look into that and play with the settings :) thanks

[OUMoose]

Is there anything i can do for my self as to how not to get 10 emails a day with that thing attached to it?
What do you use for an email client? (If you say M$ Outlook or Outlook Express, there's 50% of the problem).

[Andrew Green]

Avoiding being on the recieving end of junk e-mails is often hard to do as it has nothing to do with what programs you use, or how your system is set up. What happens to them after you get them has to do with that ;)

But to avoid them completely? Not usually possible...

But:

1) Never ever respond (unsubscribe) all that is for is to confirm that the address is valid. Unsubscribing will get you more.

2) Don't post any address you value anywhere public. Crawlers will pick them up of websites, forums, blogs, and anything they come across.

3) Convince everyone you know that sends out e-mails to everyone in there contact list that errasing the old e-mail adresses and using BCC is a GOOD thing.

4) Have a seperate account that you don't care about (a free one) to plug into places that require a address when you are not sure about the place asking.

If you're already getting them, not much you can do to stop them. It's just a matter of avoiding adding to the problem. Some free accounts will get you spammed without putting it anywhere, so just expect it.

And the biggest thing, keep windows up to date, run windows update regullarly and convince everyone you can to do it as well. Spammers don't send spam directly, they "recruit" unpatched systems to do it for them. The computer owners never even know they are sending out spam constantly. If everyone had a fully upgraded system the spam/worm problems would mostly dissapear...

[BrandiJo]

well i use hotmail and recently switched to gmail, i dont have any problem with my gmail account but hotmail is horrible. Thanks for the help guys

[Andrew Green]

Sure is a boost in my desire to register and use Microsoft products given how well they handle privacy on hotmail...

I have a hotmail account (for messanger) and it was getting spam within an hour of signing up, and no one but me knew the address. Needless to say, I never actually use it for mail...

[arnisador]

Oh yeah, never unsubscribe. That'll just mean your addressed is verified as valid to them.

[Seig]

I got hit by sober.O